By now most New Year’s resolutions, made with the best of intentions, have been broken. Most of these resolutions were wishes that took little account of the reality of our lifestyles. As a result, they were unachievable.
In politics something similar happens. Many Irish people seek an alternative to capitalism and see socialism as that alternative. The problem is translating that desire into reality. What do we mean by socialism and how do we achieve it? Many who call themselves socialist merely want a more equitable capitalism. Those on the ultra-left believe that unless a perfect society is created immediately following a successful revolution, it is a betrayal. Like New Year’s resolutions, any attempt at changing society is destined to fail unless it deals with the actual situation in which its subject exists. Marx understood that people make history, but “they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.”[1]
It is crucial therefore to properly understand the class forces within Irish society and Ireland’s position within the imperialist system. As the CPI pointed out: “The Irish state is dependent on and subservient to the triple-lock of imperialism: Britain, the European Union, and the United States.”[2]
The Irish ruling class depends on its relationship with the NATO/EU bloc to maintain its dominant position in Ireland. While the struggle for national liberation and socialism must be waged in Ireland, to be successful it will have to be anti-imperialist.
The NATO/EU bloc is involved in war against Russia in Ukraine. Russia is a capitalist country, and its capitalism is no more progressive that that of the NATO/EU bloc. However, a NATO/EU defeat in Ukraine will weaken the bloc and provide opportunities for progressive advance within the EU and Ireland. Some argue that the left should oppose Russia; others propose we should oppose both and await a socialist revolution in both Ukraine and Russia. The best result for the Irish working class would be a defeat for NATO/EU. Such a defeat would entail a ceasefire, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and a neutral Ukraine outside the EU.
There are those on the left who would disagree with such a position. However, as Communists we must, as Lenin said, make “a concrete analysis of the concrete situation”. The role of the Irish working class in the international struggle against capitalism is to overthrow capitalism at home. To do so it must defeat not only the Irish ruling class but the triple-lock of imperialism: Britain, the US and the EU. Anything that weakens the NATO/EU bloc weakens its grip on Ireland.
James Connolly opposed the imperialist war of 1914-1918. He had no illusions about the nature of German imperialism. Yet he was prepared to take assistance from Germany in 1916. Lenin made peace with Germany even though that strengthened the German position in the war. Soviet Foreign policy in the 1930s sought a common defence treaty with Britain and France against German imperialism. When that proved impossible the Soviets signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. Those decisions were made in the best interests of the revolutionary forces at that moment in history.
There is no progressive imperialism. The war in Ukraine is part if the attempt by US imperialism to maintain its hegemony. We must continue to mobilise against the NATO/EU war aims in Ukraine, not because we believe that Russia is progressive but because a defeat for NATO/EU is in the interests of the Irish working class.
[1]Marx, K (1852) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
[2]Communist Party of Ireland (2022) Political Resolution of the 26th Congress, CPI website: https://communistparty.ie/en/policies-documents/political-resolution-of-the-26th-national-congress/
